Speaker 1: Hi, everyone and welcome back to ask an autism mom of lakikid.com and you can join me every Monday to meet with other parents, share your insights and learning the tips. Today. I'm so excited. I am talking with Marie who has done so much to create adventure and excitement when it comes to food, her lights making food fun but allergen friendly. Absolutely. She also has her own line of seasonings and I promise you if you walked through to the end, I will give the secret code for the giveaway and Marie has a secret to share with us as well.

Marie Rail: So nice to meet you, Jen.

Jenn Eggert: Nice to meet you Marie. Now folks, remember if you know someone who would like who could use our show, tag them in the comments or share on your timeline. Now I want to welcome those of you watching live on Facebook or listening to the podcast on iTunes or youtube. If you want to get alerts to ask questions live and view us live, please type the number "5" in the comments section. Now welcome everyone. I know it is a holiday and so far there are no one but we all know that everyone comes on the reviews when they have time. Oh Chris. Chris is here and Chris is the one person I wanted to do this show for the morning, Hi Chris I'm so happy you could make it. We are discussing allergen friendly, fun food. I know cam has difficulties. Marie and I are actually, we were talking about you and we're going to talk more to you at the end of the show. So if you're just joining us, you're listening to ask an autism mom show and today we're talking about getting your child interested in food and how to make food fun and exciting and Allergen friendly at the same time. I can't wait until this topic with you, but first I want to give a huge credit to our sponsor. As you all know, our sponsor is LakiKid. Where are we currently have are new write and chill weighted lap pad, which is on Kickstarter.

Jenn Eggert: Miguel will add the comment to the live comments section when he gets a chance or the Kickstarter of this. If you go to the Kickstarter page and back us, there is a way to win a different prize each week for the entire month of May. We are coming to a close so please go check it out. Enter now before the end of the month because we're so close to that end of the month cutoff. Now today I am speaking with and I'm going to read from my phone cause it's a little bit to say with Marie who is the m and m chef and also its magic. Chef Marie believes strongly and passionately and then after we'll taste freshness in premium quality of her herbs and spices developed by Mchef, they are filler free. 12 allergen free wheat or gluten, wheat, Rye, try to call soy nuts, peanuts, eggs, dairy, shellfish, sesame, mustard, coconut and sulfite. They are Vegan friendly. They're kosher. They are low in sodium at only 10% MSG and GMO free at 2003 graduate of the institute to Hoteliere. Okay, sorry folks. I've may be French but I can't speak it. Well I did. Marie, do you want to explain this part to us cause you get the words a little bit easier than I can for sure.

Marie Rail:Well, thank you for inviting me today and happy memoreial Day to all. What I wanted to bring here today is that the, I have such a journey, you know, in the food service or restaurant business and into cooking in private than kitchen people's home. And this journey of over 20 years rock me to the sense of food, get back into quality ingredients, how to search for them, what to expect when we are buying and grocery store, what to read on mainly both to be able to get really the, the best at home that will not create any food allergies or food intolerances. So I am a chef 22, 23 years in the restaurant business at took me 10 years to become a chef. It to maybe a bit longer for woman, but it will journey. And I searched a lot during all those years working in restaurants and notice that we have several issues with gluten and in fact and too much sodium. So that's why I'm on a mission for bringing you the best of ingredients to spice it up, flavor up and meals everyday. So it's not a task to eat, but just so fun to explore and enjoy food.

Jenn Eggert: Now I'm going to get into a little bit of how does flavor affect food especially when we're talking about children.

Marie Rail: Well flavors, now we have a, we're five senses not connected to the brain. sour and bitters, sweet, salty and savory. So have to play with these flavors into a recipes to be able to attract pay spots, track that their palettes, children. And another way for that is to try to attract the children by colors, colors of food. Now we are really relating it to veggies and foods, green, yellow and red. These are type of colors that can attract immediately and children. And for that I think that we have to start to be a sense of taking on the journey. And our children and bringing them first to the grocery store and shopping with us. So we will notice what our children are attracted and warm on colors. For sure it may be less on the meat that is even though it's red in the grocery and they know that when it's cooked it's Brown.

Marie Rail: So, and they're read their B is not part of the nutrition to all of the Diet and it's white and it's not the feeling. So we really want to stick the children into the veggies and fruits addict and the like you have mentioned and we want them to explore by touch. So if they touch a melon and it's green and it's very, very bright and it's, and it's very smooth on the texture, they may be attracted to, to this more than an avocado that is more a darker green and the not very smooth. So we want them to test out by touching. That's the main part. First thing that we want to do and then in the kitchen is to involve them into the recipes and took the cookies that that would be the second thing. And not seeing food as a dost again of having to prepare food, but let's say to say to our kids, Hey, activity time today, we're gonna smell work on a try, work on the taste whether we like it or not. We're going to do an exploration and experience for our taste buds so that, that would be a second step, general, right. And then slowly shift our kids to have fear as snacks, healthier anchorages so we let go the, the fattening foods, the sugary food, and we focus on this gluten free dairy free, even for some of you, not free peanut free type of nutrition,but it's, it's doable, but it takes time of course.

Jenn Eggert: And it does take time. And folks, I just want to say summer is coming. You can buy, online on Amazon, these Ziploc pouches that look like breezy pouches or ice pop pouches and you can fill them with whatever you want so you can actually have them enjoy and explore pureed fruits up and pouring them in these molds and then putting them in the freezer. And that's all for some veggies. That's not that 100% fake stuff from Walmart, but just something as simple as making them as smoothie or making them these icy pops that are healthy is a good start. Because I tell you and Marie will agree, picky eaters will not pick up a food on the first time and go, okay, it takes time and it takes a lot of this tension.

Marie Rail: And by then it's fun to talk about it because I'm going to propose you different recipes that you can start doing it at home and we have four popsicle, so we can use those. Ziplock you know, it's a, it's a fruity popsicle, but it's a hidden Prudy popsicle. We don't have to mention to our children that it's made of only fruits because we may have a bit of reticence. And I have also in the recipes a hidden Veggie pure free that you can also put into those sip of back. So it's just that we want to introduce them slowly but surely to a really good, the fruits and veggies at these five hidden and they into our nutrition would be top notch.

Jenn Eggert: And our next question kind of goes with what I feel right now. How can we make mealtime or enjoyable the presentation Do you feel that the presentation makes a big difference, especially with kids. Oh, absolutely. And evolving.

Marie Rail: Oh, absolutely And evolving. Yes, texture. We played with volume when we create on our own, on food or dish. And this do you notice this way of putting food into, into our plate Yes. That's when you, you have to be the star. You know, you have to be very creative. So if you have a ton of a salad, you make it sure that it's very high and it looks like a mountain. And then you know, if you have a little bit of the blueberries or you know, you just sprinkled everywhere because it's blue and it's and it's colorful and if you have your fish or you had your piece of meat, you know, you make sure that you put on top little colorful carrots or Zucchini or yes, you have to play. You can make a faces and on your plate, happy faces, animal shapes, everything. You can even buy online if you know, really anywhere. Even Amazon with those silicone molds shaped of animals or do you know a folky spaces icons. Happy face. So this will be attractive also.They have to play.

Jenn Eggert: Yes, Exactly. Parents, I want to say if you're the enough have with emotions and understanding emotions. I know you do a lot of emotions work, making food into happy faces. Sad faces would really, that would be another way to introduce the emotion to your child and again, make food fun.

Marie Rail: That's such a good idea Jen. Yes. Relate to their own emotions with the plate, with the food that they're going to, apps of that.

Jenn Eggert: That's such a good idea. Now, why is nutrition and so and great taste so important to you.

Marie Rail: Well these days on the market, you know, we are used to cook more than the basic ingredients that we are buying. There's a lot of fillers added to it, but unfortunately with our laws and restriction the, that there are not much, that are shown on the labels. And this is really the mission that I wanted to go on is to work with Herbs and spices since they are the stars of our recipes. But bring back herbs and spices only into a conventional cryo vac packaging bags there's no chemicals won't make flooding.

Jenn Eggert: But I want to show it very clearly. It's Allergen free so she makes it so that you have no question what you are saving yourself from. And then if you turn to the back, it says Msg free, filler free, gluten free and trans fat free. Did you know I didn't know until about two years ago that regular pepper had fillers in it that had gluten sometimes. So you really have to watch in even Marie is probably a frustration of yours as well. Even if it says it's safe, it sometimes is not.

Marie Rail: No, unfortunately this, the main sellers that we find into herbs and spices are corn, wheat, and we have all types of different types of gluten and cellulose. Some willows, it's a what fiber and the, that's why certain companies are saying that it's gluten free. Of course the sadness is gluten free, but it's still the filler added. And unfortunately if we buy more fillers and hurts and spices and already hurts and spices are our product that is expensive because the flavor up everything, we really want to focus on it on in pure profit. That's the main goal. That's what we wanted to do.

Jenn Eggert: Now Marie, How did you get started on this adventure of making food fun and enjoyable but also safe.

Marie Rail: I want it to get back into the the, the foundation of nutrition. It's to keep our body healthy. It's to provide energy. Everything is energy, food is energy. So for me, I say, well, we are working so hard, we are spending lots of time on the highway and not much time into cooking. What I wanted to bring is to, is to bring the fun back of cooking, but fast and effective, easy recipes and to integrate recipes and with our family members at to safe. While we're going to do an activity, it's going to be Sunday. Everybody, you know, from nine to 11, we're just going to cheer up in the kitchen and we're going to do what we need to do to be about to go through our week without any struggles in time. So it was to maximize time. And for that I saved, I bring up a herbs and spice and collection that is really fun for cooking or baking and even for beverages, everybody's gonna have fun doing it because in the end the result will be, will be a party for the mouth. So other fresh and you're really quality, recipes that I want to offer you.

Jenn Eggert: And not only that, you were talking about meal planning. Remember folks, a lot of us struggle with budgets and stuff. If you meal plan, you can save a fortune, especially if you watch for sales and follow all of your sales. And now the farmers markets are coming out and you're getting more fresh variety. So that's important to remember, especially for some of you that are struggling financially. Food, meal planning, doing it on a Sunday, getting a week's worth of meals done. It does actually save a lot of money.

Marie Rail: I would like to add something to what to I saying because it's very interesting to focus on buying locally and into farmer's market and that's when you can allocate a little bit more budget during summer time to buy food, to buy more food. Because in farmer's market you can buy in volume. So you saved money and then you can freeze it. And during winter time you will be able to add into your recipes, really good quality veggies instead of buying it every week, even at winter time and get those fruits and veggies that are coming a bit everywhere. And the this is not, we're not good one, not what we want to prioritize.

Jenn Eggert:Yeah, Now nobody really knows this yet. I haven't, I know that I was waiting to, now Marie has made some special recipes specifically for us and she is going to continue to do so for a while and we are going to be posting them on all of our social media. As you all know. Most of you, most of you know all of our social media links, but if you don't go to the main page lakikid.com and we will start posting on there. All these recipes, Marie makes our allergen friendly. Chris, these recipes are phenomenal for you specifically. So Marie, do you want to talk a little bit about the recipes that you're working on for us.

Marie Rail: Yes. Well, we started to with five, five, the fun ones. So we had the chicken, the chicken soup, because it's always good for the soul and on a rainy day it warms up the hearts. So I wanted to provide you with the, a very flavourish one. Easy to make 25 minutes up and go. You can freeze it easily and you're gone. You're going to have a it's a 12 serving a recipe and you can double it easily if you want to keep it longer, then you have a chicken finger, recipe, gluten free, the super diverse, you're gonna tick it off. It's gonna be a good one, this one. And the you, you can easily also freeze it. Not a problem. So the feel free to double the recipe as well. We have a hidden beds you puree like we've mentioned at the beginning, this gonna be fun. You're going to see, I integrate a lot of different types of veggies but so nutritious. So and the color will become a little orange so it's going to be appealing for the eyes. Then you have a popsicle because it's summertime soon actually. Do you guys have good weather right now

Jenn Eggert: We're hitting a hundred degrees someday.

Marie Rail:Okay, well thanks. So there's got to be the best time to make those popsicle with the children at home. And the last one where I didn't have the choice my inner child had to provide you with that recipe. It's a chocolate chip cookie gluten free recipe and it's absolutely easy to make.

Jenn Eggert: And I want to say let your kids help you. If they want to add peanut butter chips to your chocolate chip cookies, let them, if they want to send the flinch the fruits on their smoothies or their pops, I know Marie is going to say the same thing. If they don't want blueberries, they want more strawberries, give them what they want. They're still eating this nutritious food. Don't focus on things. Should have every single color of the rainbow, every meal.

Marie Rail: I think normally on your vibe, your eyes, we have to give them the choice. Yes they have to be free of picking of what they want.

Jenn Eggert: Exactly. Now Marie, I know you have generously given us the opportunity to some of your recipes every month, but you have also offered us an amazing deal on your spices. Would you like everyone know about that.

Marie Rail: Well, I have, I would like to offer you exclusively if 50% on your purchase on the mchef.com. So you're gonna see, you have different type of herb said that you may be interested in, but we have also bundles and 50% is for you and it's going to be for a good two months

Jenn Eggert: And Marie, is there a code to get that

Marie Rail: Yes. Do you have the code Jenn

Jenn Eggert: I do not, I will do is I will be posting the code on Facebook in the group and our other social media. Just give me 24 hours to make a link or to set up a code and I will post the code for everyone because I kind of maybe made a promise to my children. I'd bring them to the beach after the show today. So I'm taking time off honestly on getting the code to everyone within the next 24 hours. Don't worry. Well now we're going to go to our audience. We have Chris, I'm going to start with Chris. I know there's two of you that are commenting and asking questions. Chris, listen, a gluten free eating out is hard. It is extremely hard to eat out when you're gluten free. Marie and I are both share the joyable enjoyable having to be gluten free. We both cannot eat gluten so we understand fully. There is Chris, I will look it up and get it to you. There is an app that tells you which trust Toronto to go to and what you can eat that is safe. So let me find that APP and I will send it to later this week. Oh, and I'm sure.

Marie Rail: So I would like to not to add something into what you are seeing because a yes, it's difficult to find gluten free. And what happens is that when they are putting on their menu gluten free, we still have to ask questions and sometimes the manager at the restaurant won't be able to answer the questions and feel free, do not hesitate to ask the chef or the cook to come by at you're at a table and be very strictly asking those questions. What do you put into your recipe are you sure that the product is gluten free even as for herbs and spices, we want to make sure that they use the proper ingredients. So really we need to ask every time.

Jenn Eggert: We do, I went at a restaurant the same thing I eat all the time and I didn't think to ask and one day I went in there and asked and they said, oh, it's still the same. They didn't tell me the spices has changed.

Jenn Eggert: Their manufacturer of the spice has changed so I no longer can eat that food. So ask every time, do not feel bad about constantly bringing it back up. Every time you go out you're going to sound like a broken record, but it's going to protect you in a lot of ways.

Marie Rail: Absolutely.

Jenn Eggert: I'm so excited for Chris. Chris was recently able to actually bring dairy back into cams. Life is only, I'm going to get this wrong. He is three years old and he is a very difficult eater with being very free, gluten free citrus. He can't tolerate things like pineapple and he, Chris or Cam has issues with texture. A lot of our kids have issues with that texture. And Marie and I were talking before the show and remember folks, this is always my advice. Try the smell, hold, smell lick kiss or kiss, lick, bite and work at over time. It's not going to work in a week. It's going to take a lot of time, but you can get them to try different textures.

Marie Rail: Now we have to prioritize on the texture that the children likes. Yes. And just by changing a little bit, slowly but surely they reverse. It's a very, it's a chef that is, but of
course it takes time.

Jenn Eggert: Very much, so now we have Christina, my boy has been pretty good with trying new foods. And last week's Christine, I'm so happy for you actually got Riley to try a spice cake last night. What the pair compote. And everyone's like, oh, she's trying that. And I said, she wants to try it. Let her go. My daughter, everyone knows that watches a show. You all know, my daughter has once given our dogs a 45 minute lecture on how vegetables or fruit pink kill you because they're good for you. Sell fruit and vegetables are bad. But the last couple of weeks we've been trying them in different ways and I said, do you know that's a fruit right And she just puts her head down and goes, yeah.

Marie Rail: Miss you're gonna, you're gonna winner of the Good Christina. It's good news. It's a work in progress.

Jenn Eggert: Yes, Chris says, so then you have to be warned about and understand is that he's been gluten free for a month. Now once you take away gluten, the minute you reintroduce gluten, yes, you're going to have a problem that day. Like he's having a problem immediately today he had chicken nuggets and is very sick and that's going to happen when you go gluten free. Unfortunately, as hard as it is, you can not a Marie, I know you're going to agree with me. You cannot give gluten if the child or person is gluten free. Instant illness is pretty much all you're going to get as a result. Sure.

Jenn Eggert: So if you're going to do gluten free, try and stick to it all the time because if you don't, it's going to be, especially for a young child, very difficult.

Marie Rail: Yes. Unfortunately it's about the emotion that the child cannot be really have to watch, but it sits in Luton is hidden in two foods, so less processed food possible. These nuggets, these chicken against you can make them easily at home without having to buy It's back to basic to get back into a regular food that we can cook outside ourselves. The focus lesson to process the firm. and make time and cooking.

Jenn Eggert: I agree Yeah, exactly. Cooking, you can make a cheap, quick process meal quickly, but those real meals, they do take time, but they are worth the time and energy spent. Do you know what I actually did when I use this vice folks I took my chicken plain chicken breast, boneless skinless. I sprinkled a little bit on it, tossed it in my air fryer 20 minutes later. It was delicious.

Marie Rail: Easy Breezy.

Jenn Eggert: Now, Chris, I love that idea of buying meat from the four group of an auction. Because if you can get those opportunities to buy farm fresh meat, half a cow, a quarter of a cow. I'm sorry, my grandparents were farmers. I grew up always having my parents bring home a half a cow. It was no big deal to us. It was processed. We had our ground beef in our we always had, it was just natural for us.

Marie Rail: So you can, you gonna you're gonna see the results also into the house.

Jenn Eggert:Yes, I know urban farming is becoming popular, especially with chickens. Farm fresh eggs are an amazing thing to add if your child is not, um, egg-free, but it's something good protein and being fresh. It's just so much better for their body.

Jenn Eggert: Yes. Now, Chris finally, he finally likes chicken rice and we'll tolerate. I'm so excited. We have been working so hard with Cameron to get him to eat and he will now eat rice with rice in his mouth.

Marie Rail: And it said the big thick texture, a, it's a big improvement. And in careful with their rice to one with the gluten, who makes sure that the, you buy the, the rise to that doesn't it That is not precook that or any added seasoning into this. No, Because you're gonna get some symptoms.

Jenn Eggert: Yes. I've only just the big five, 10 pound bags of white rice with nothing in it

Marie Rail: And more affordable too. That's a good one.

Jenn Eggert: Yes, that's like $2.

Marie Rail: Awesome.

Jenn Eggert: Let's look, we are looking for now Chris, I really love that his therapists are having him play with the food and try the food and explore the food. Like Marie was saying, the more we explore the food, the more the child is likely to want to try it.

Marie Rail: And he's so cute to be messy because if it's part of the activity of trying new food.

Jenn Eggert: Yes, And it makes it more fun if you let them kind of explore and move around a little bit.

Marie Rail: Playtime in the kitchen.

Jenn Eggert: So I'm just going and Chris, you're going to notice that a lot of things once he gets more on, he's only been on the gluten free diet since the first of this month. Things are going to improve his skin, his stomach issues. But thinking clear, yes, I, there's a brain fog that comes with eating allergens for some people and that is just the way it's sadly is. And I do suggest that, let me look one up this week, but I will post a list of other words that mean gluten because I always thought gluten meant one thing. And then I'm sitting here and I'm reading this list and I said, oh, modified food search. That's a big no, I even stay away from modified corn starch. I stay away from anything modified. So I will look up the list of other words for the meanings of that main gluten and I will post it for everyone to have, I suggest printing it off. I for what, two, three years carried the handy little paper that had all the words for gluten written down. Now I want to thank all of you for coming, especially chef Marie and I'm so excited for our partnership with the special on the spices. Folks, trust me, my family loves them. They have not only regular meal spices but like she says, she has desserts and drinks spices to make mom and dad's life a little more fun too.

Jenn Eggert: So I want to thank everyone for joining us today. You can join me every Monday live at 1:00 PM Eastern for ask an autism mom with Jen Eggert and we've, we'll be discussing various topics like always, I want to remind you, go to our Kickstarter page, which will be posted shortly and check out the Kickstarter for the weighted lap pad. And this week I will make an announcement of the last two weeks winners. Try and get into the giveaway before the end of the month when it closes. I am so thankful for all of you today. I know it's a holiday. Chris, I'm so happy you could make it. You are the one person that's his show was, I was gearing this show for. So Chris, thank you for watching.

Jenn Eggert: if you enjoyed today's show, remember you can type the number "5" in the comments section now to subscribe. You can also go to youtube and hit the subscribe button and the bell notification button. And you can always join our parent's support group at lakikid.com/group and you can leave questions to I will answered live on the show. If you go to lakikid.com/ask you can leave your questions there and I will ask them why be on an upcoming show I want to thank you, everyone for coming. Marie, thank you for joining us today. I had a great thing.

Marie Rail: Thank you Jenn.

Jenn Eggert: I'm missing french accent.

Marie Rail: We're French Canadian. You are tonight.

Jenn Eggert: That's so, I want to thank everyone for coming. I cannot wait to talk to you again soon and remember, every child brings good luck.